How My Eating Has Changed

I promise I won't make this all baby all the time.  In fact, my daily life is very much focused on work and regular daily tasks and I'm still me- just harboring a lemon in my gut.  I did want to touch on how my nutrition has changed in the last 14 weeks.  In a nutshell, the answer is not much, but I will elaborate since that's what I'm paid pennies a month for.  

Disclaimer: I hope I don't sound smug- I know that pregnancy is different for everyone and some women can only survive on mac and cheese and hamburgers.  Believe me- I ate my weight in bagels and cream cheese and have now come out on the other side.  Take this and all my other posts with a grain of salt.

At first I was pretty sick.  Just imagine being hungover every day for about 8 weeks straight, but without the delicious wine the evening before.  Food was not particularly appealing but not repulsive either.  I just ate because I knew it would make me feel better.  Me and an empty stomach were a recipe for disaster.  I ate simple things like eggs, toast with cream cheese, fruit, cheese, and a lot of cucumbers and tomatoes.  A typical lunch would look something like this.  

Veggie sandwich with cheese, cream cheese, lettuce, and cucumbers and tomatoes on the side with lots of pepper and salt.  I am loving the salt.

What caught me off guard was that I fiercely hated hummus, almond butter, and chocolate. All my favorite foods sounded awful. The cherry on top of the sundae- I also hated frozen yogurt. What the fudge? Another favorite food. I got over it, but it was just so strange.

Now that these foods were out of my rotation, I mostly focused on getting enough protein, veggies that I could stomach (most things except for spinach and broccoli), and still loved the salt.  I ate enough marinated mushrooms for an entire lifetime and also loved olives.  One other thing that happened- I started to eat a real dinner instead of my typical snackstravaganza.  A typical dinner looks like this:

Roasted root veggies, 2 eggs cooked well, ketchup and cherry tomatoes on the side

Some other staples include fruit of all kinds, like my beloved mango.

Once I hit 2nd tri, I felt much more human and eat pretty much like I did before.  I even introduced almond butter and oatmeal back into my diet.  Chocolate is still very 'meh' and hummus is on the shiz list.  Maybe some other time.  I eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner.  I have to eat dinner before I work out or it's no good.  I don't count calories and just listen to my body, which hasn't failed me yet.

My sweet tooth has gone missing, but I did have an amazingly indulgent lunch (yes, lunch) of Ici ice cream this past weekend.  Candied Meyer lemon and brown sugar oatmeal are health foods, thanks very much.  After all, I do have an excuse!

Next time I'll talk about how workouts have changed.  My yoga intern says hello for now!

How We Told the Family

So apparently there is a way to publish back posts but they get sent WAY to the back of the blog.  Here is the post I wrote on November 6 of how we told the family:

How We Told the Family

If anyone is smarter than me (not very hard) and can tell me how to put them to the top of the blog, I would greatly appreciate it!

Pasta Sauce and Smashing Pumpkin (pie)

Happy Monday!  I hope getting back into the grind wasn't too painful.  I just pretended it was Tuesday or something and just got my booty in here.

As part of the Foodbuzz tastemaker program, I received some Classico® Light Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce.  I received the product for free, but the recipe and review are all my own. 
I decided to go the untraditional route and do a baked quinoa pasta.  Did you know such a thing exists?  I didn't, but I knew that the added protein would be beneficial and I went with it.

I added the following ingredients:
- 1.5 cups cooked quinoa pasta
- 1/2 cup each of peas, carrots, and onions
-1/2 container of Classico® Light Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce
-1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
-3 natural spicy Italian chicken sausage links
-salt and pepper for tasts

Baked at 350 for 35 minutes and it was ready to go.  I ate it with some marinated roasted bell peppers in apparently extremely dim light:

I also wanted to show you my Thanksgiving experiment/crime scene.

I only like the filling and the hubby is cutting weight for a tournament- we massacred the poor adorable pie:

Can't say I regret it in the least bit- it was delicious!

14 Weeks

After my last post, it's safe to say I let the cat out of the bag and I'm finally sharing my pregnancy.  I promise I won't go into anything uncomfortable, but I wanted to have a record of my journey for myself and to print out and share some day with junior.  I have seen these questions on blogs all over the place, and here is my update for 14 weeks.  My 'weeks' start on a Saturday, so I just completed week 14 and will start week 15 next Saturday.  Pregnancy math hurts my head. Here we go!

How far along? 14 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: At the doctor's appointment I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  It was about 4:00 PM and I already had a bunch of meals and water, so I'm calling it about even.

Maternity clothes? Nope- wearing all my regular clothes.  I was cleaning my closet yesterday afternoon and hubby came in and told me I was showing.  I can tell a difference, but it disappears by the morning time.

Stretch marks? Applying my burt's bees body butter so far to try to prevent them.  I have no idea if it will work or not, but I'm trying.

Sleep: Sleeping is great!  I love sleep!  The doctor told me that since I'm still not big, I don't have to worry too much if I wake up on my back, which happens all the time.

Best moment this week: Telling a couple more people, coming out on the blog, and Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for and I feel great.  I also told my favorite yoga teacher why I wasn't doing the twists and it was so nice to have her support, since she's pregnant too.  I also got to hear the baby's heartbeat at the doctor's appointment and it was reassuring, as always.

Miss Anything? Not really.  I wanted sushi and got a cooked roll at Whole Foods, so an easy problem solved.

Movement: Nope

Food cravings: Nothing of note. I am still the most boring pregnant lady in the world.  I still don't like hummus or chocolate (I know, I know), but everything else is normal.  I have been enjoying salads, lots of fruit, Greek yogurt, and almond butter.  I will report when I eat something terribly unhealthy or nasty.  It will be my pleasure ;)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just getting overly hungry, which is a bad idea anyways.  I have felt fantastic otherwise.

Sex: No idea, but my dad keeps saying it's a girl and I had a strong gut reaction against it.  There is probably no validity in it and I'll know on January 9.

Symptoms: Feeling great- I did have a bit of lower back pain and hip pain, but nothing too bad.  I am loving getting stretched out in yoga!

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY now that I'm feeling well.

Looking forward to: Everything.

Exercise: I did well with exercise this week.  I went to the gym to lift and do cardio, did yoga in the studio and at home, and daily walks with the pup.  I am feeling strong and energetic and I love it.  I lost my heart rate monitor watch (but my silly butt has the strap) so I still can't determine how hard I'm working and think that will help immensely with knowing when to push myself.  I have been using the 'talk test' and just listening to my body.  A new concept!

The 'Other' Great Reveal

There was once a goofy, nerdy girl.

She enjoyed shopping, working out, and cooking.

One day she met an adorable boy.

He loved economics, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and learning about new cultures through travel.

They met on a blind date.

Got engaged.

Got married.

Traveled the world.

And enjoyed every minute together while buying a house and graduating from grad school.

When life got crazy they took it in stride with a smile.

They adopted Chino, their first baby who brought them daily happiness. 

And the next step on their journey?

Baby One Healthy Apple Due May 2012!!!!!!

I have been writing back posts and I'll share all the stories in the next few days. 

I wish you a happy Thanksgiving!  I am so very thankful this year.

13 Weeks- Originally Written November 20

You know, people who do pregnancy math are kind of messed up.  First there is the whole 9 month thing, when pregnancy actually lasts 10 months.  And then there is the whole trimester deal.  The second trimester starts at 13 weeks 3 days, not just 13 weeks, but whatever.  Happy almost 2nd trimester to me!  This week has been great.  I finally came out of my nauseated, tired pregnant lady stupor and started feeling well this week.

How far along? 13 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I will find out this week on Wednesday.  I go back in the afternoon rather than the morning, but I'm sure it won't make a huge difference.

Maternity clothes? Nope- wearing all my regular clothes. 

Stretch marks? Applying my burt's bees body butter so far to try to prevent them.

Sleep: Sleeping is great!  I love sleep!  I have started trying to stay off my back and stomach and it's becoming a bit of a challenge.

Best moment this week: Telling my friends and my husband telling some more of his friends.  I still can't say enough about how sweet people have been and I have loved the reactions.

Miss Anything? Smoked salmon and spicy tuna.  Otherwise, nothing else in the world.

Movement: Nope

Food cravings: Nothing of note. This week was HUGE and I ate almond butter for the first time in 2 months.  Other than that, I'm still not loving chocolate or hummus, but I have been eating fruits and veggies and enjoying them.  Even when I was sick, I was still eating cucumbers and tomatoes and roasted veggies, so I'm happy to have received some nutrients.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just getting overly hungry, which is a bad idea anyways.  I have felt fantastic otherwise.

Sex: No idea, but I had my first baby dream and it was a cute, bald, little boy.

Symptoms: Feeling great- I did have a bit of lower back pain, but nothing too bad.

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY now that I'm feeling well.

Looking forward to: Thanksgiving, finding out the sex in January

Exercise: I did well with exercise this week.  I went to the gym to lift and do cardio, did yoga in the studio and at home, and daily walks with the pup.

Because..

Because it's a weekend, I can have a leisurely breakfast with my favorite boys.

Because it's the weekend, I can run errands and stop for Jamba Juice green juice on the way.

Because it's the weekend, I can have steamed milk with peppermint cocoa.

What do you do because it's the weekend?

Planning Pays Off!

For me, planning this week made sense and made sure that I had tasty, healthy food usually waiting for us.  I should really use this theory for other things in life, but baby steps for me.

Yesterday, I made my own salad bar and packed in butternut squash, tabouli, and egg salad in my glass container.  When I got to work it was all mixed up.  I am glad I'm not a freak about food touching.  It was still good!

Earlier in the week, I had purchased a pound of grass fed organic beef at Trader Joe's and made a really simple broiled burger with it last night.  I added paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, and chopped onions to the mix and stirred in a little BBQ sauce to give it smoky flavor.  Then I served it on a whole wheat English muffin with aged cheddar, mustard, ketchup, and pickles. 

It was good and nothing a fast food place could top.  The whole thing took me 20 minutes from start to finish.  I also had the rest of my butternut squash in a sea of ketchup.  The best part is that I broiled several more, so we have leftovers to recycle.

Oh- and my planned snack?  A spiced pumpkin bar from the hubby.  I haven't had any pumpkin at all this season (bad blogger, I know), and this was my first foray into the wonderful orange goodness for the season. Yum!

Do you get freaked out if your food touches?  I know it can cause some controversy!

12 Weeks- Originally written November 15

Another week has passed and I made it to 12 weeks.  I had 12 as the magical number in my head because it seemed more substantial.  If the very few people we told asked how far along I was, I could say 3 months instead of 6 weeks or 9 weeks, or 11 weeks.  It's all mental, I'm sure.  Here is my weekly update- of course a few days late. (pardon the picture- it's hard to take self portraits and I never know where to look).

12 weeks 3 days

How far along? 12 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I won't know until I go back to the doctor in a week.  I weighed one evening at the gym and was at my regular weight.

Maternity clothes? Nope- wearing all my regular clothes.  I will live to regret this, but no real change in shape for now.  Maybe it's because I have a long torso and wide hips?  No se.

Stretch marks? Nope- but I bought some good smelling moisturizer stuff.

Sleep: Sleeping great except for the nightly potty break.

Best moment this week: Seeing the little apple on the big screen at our ultrasound.  There was a strong heartbeat of 169 bpm. I also started telling a couple of people and it was such a relief.

Miss Anything? Some extra energy would be nice

Movement: None that I can feel.  I did see the little one waving its arms and moving its feet.

Food cravings: Nothing of note- a pretty boring pregnant lady.  I did go to town on some caesar salad at a work meeting, but that was because there was nothing else appetizing.  I'm still not into chocolate or sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick: The ultra premium hangover started fading by Friday, but earlier in the week it was train rides and any time my stomach feels empty.

Sex: No idea.

Symptoms: Still tired, slightly queasy in the evenings, lower back pain.  Feeling pretty good overall.

Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY

Looking forward to: Thanksgiving, weekends, 2nd tri.

Exercise: Big news in the exercise front- I got back to lifting with the hubby on Friday night.  I got in a yoga class and daily walks but missed a couple of workouts due to weekday plans and a long week at work.  

All Before 8:00 AM

Each morning, our routine rolls like this:

• 6:00 AM- our sweet doggie wakes up and starts licking his paws.  Slurp, slurp, snort.  I turn around and go back to sleep
• 6:45 AM- alarm goes off. Husband jumps out of bed and I lay there willing myself to get up and go to work
• 6:55 AM- I'm up eventually and get dressed- start part 1 of getting ready.  I take showers at night, so that's not a part of my routine.
• 7:00 AM- Waffle time! I make my husband waffles every.single.morning.  He's out with the dog before 7:00 so I make a warm breakfast.  He eats his with almond butter, honey, and flax seeds in sandwich form
• 7:20 AM- meanwhile, I run back and forth, packing lunches for both of us, looking for my shoes, checking work email, and start making my breakfast.
• 7:30 AM- The boys come back- Chino gets his breakfast and come over to beg while I eat mine. 

And the point of this post?  My breakfast this morning:

Whole grain bagel, 2 eggs prepared in the microwave, avocado, and Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  Do it now.

What is your morning routine like?

Weekly Prep Returns

Now that we have our new kitchen, I've been more in the mood to cook in a new, lovely environment.  So much so, that I even got back to my weekly prep.  I developed a bad habit of not bringing my lunch to work every day and I needed to stop that stat.  Having healthy options in the fridge will do that quickly!

The first thing on my list- egg salad.  I usually think of it as a summer food, but it's pretty awesome if you think about it.  It has protein, healthy fats, and can include some veggies if you spike it like I do.

My recipe is simple:

• 5 medium eggs, boiled and chopped
• Chopped celery and onions- 1/4 cup each
• Paprika
• Dill
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1.5 Tbsp organic mayo
• 1 Tbsp yellow mustard

Just mix all ingredients and refrigerate for 30 minutes or eat right away. 

 Next on my list was tabouli. I also made it before here with quinoa instead.  This time I went with whole wheat cous cous.

 I used all the same ingredients, except for subbing halved cherry tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes:

• 1 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt and pepper to taste

To round out my prep, I roasted a pound of butternut squash with olive oil, paprika, salt, and pepper.  The silly people on the package say it serves 5.  I don't think they met me.
 

After all that prep, I was ready for a snack and had some kiwis.  They have been sitting in my fridge for weeks and were so good!  Now I'm set for a few days and won't be tempted by the hot bar.

The holiday drinks at the Starbucks in my building may be a different story though!

Any new meal planning or prep ideas that have been working for you?

The Great Reveal

We've been cooking up a project for the last few months and I wanted to make sure that everything was just perfect before I shared with you guys.

That's right...our kitchen is ready!

I can't say enough about the work that our family did to help us- particularly the dads.  My husband also worked his tail off, and I just stared and helped pick a few things and fed the workers.  Finally, our good friend Yana designed the whole thing and worked with us to make it perfect.  I hope you guys enjoy!

Here are some of the 'before' pictures.

Before Demolition

Close up of oven side

Demolition Begins! 

What were they thinking?!

In progress:

The beginning of an island 

Cabinets installed

A full wall done

Countertops, sink, and lights in!

 The final product:

We are beyond thrilled with the results.  I never thought I would have something this nice and I'm so happy to have a kitchen to cook in and a place to eat meals with our little family.

How We Told the Family: What is Chino Looking At?

The hubby and I have two different styles with sharing news- he wants to shout to the whole world, and I am cautious to a fault.  I am not superstitious, but I needed to see scientific proof that there was in fact a baby and after we had our first appointment, we spilled the news at 10 weeks.  Our elaborate production of holding out until our planned dinner party was derailed by Mr. Excited, but I'm so glad we did it. 

We sent out an email with the subject line of 'What is Chino Looking At' and included the pictures below:

The next picture included an ultrasound of our little bean up close.  We sent the email, then looked at each other.  The calls started pouring in from everyone- my parents, hubby's mom, and my big bro.  It was so fun and of course I made it pleasantly awkward since I was still in shock over the news.

9 Weeks- Originally Written October 27

I turned 9 weeks on this past Saturday and still can't believe this is happening. It became very real when we had our first appointment on Thursday morning (10/27).

9 weeks

8 weeks

How I'm Feeling:
I have had some mild nausea since about 6 weeks (mild only because I have been able to keep all my food down) and it mostly comes in the evenings but sometimes hits on my train commute or if I'm sitting at my desk. The other symptoms are fatigue and digestive issues. The fatigue is insane because I'm usually a night owl and have been going to bed way before 10 most nights.

Exercise:
Exercise is getting better with coming back to yoga and still walking chino every evening. We went on a 4-mile hike over the weekend and it was fun, although I can definitely feel the fatigue. My goal is to keep taking yoga, walking, and incorporating some weight training when I can. Despite the fatigue, I feel better about myself after some movement and I know I need to keep it up for the future spawn to get big and strong. I keep wanting to try prenatal yoga but I will look ridiculous in there with barely a food baby bump. I am sure I will not be complaining about this after a few months.

Cravings:
I just want salty food.  I currently hate some of my old favorite foods: Chocolate (OMG, WTF), hummus, almond butter, waffles, Greek yogurt, any kind of dessert/candy except for lemon flavored things.  I am loving lemon in all forms and

Maternity Clothes:
I am not really showing yet, but I do bloat out by the end of the day.  Hubby says I'm ridiculous when I say I'm bloated, but I can tell.  All my clothes fit and I'm hoping they will stay that way for a bit longer since I'm not ready to venture into the world of maternity clothes quite yet.  This is a good thing since I have had back to back work meetings and needed to wear all of my suits and skirts.

What's Changing:
I'm trying to imagine what it would be like with another human at home.  I am definitely nervous but extremely excited.  I'm also loving how sweet hubby has been- extremely protective and won't let me carry anything heavy. I don't think the dog knows anything is going on at all but I'm excited to see how he will act as a big brother.  I haven't been too emotional, but I get really antsy about telling my family since we haven't told anyone yet.  Our big reveal is disguised as our kitchen renovation celebration party.  We have a master plan and I'm so excited to tell them.

Dr's Appointments:
We had our first appointment and it was surreal.  I got frisked and the usual, and then they took out the ultrasound.  It was wheeled in, they got me situated, and then turned it on.  The little gummy bear was hanging out and even waved at us with its little arm.  It was just hanging out and took my breath away.  I am not extra mushy, but we made a human!  I was so happy and drifted out in a surreal cloud.  The next appointment is scheduled for our NT taste, to get a better look at the little one.